First Israeli lunar spacecraft completes first maneuver

by Yoni Kempinski, Arutz ShevaFebruary 24, 2019

The joint engineering team of SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has informed the press that at 1:29 PM (Israel time) Beresheet, Israel's first spacecraft completed its first maneuver successfully.

"The maneuver was planned taking into account problems identified in the star trackers after launch", the team's spokesperson updated, "This is the first time Beresheet's main engine was activated — the maneuver was completed successfully".

The maneuver was made at a distance of 69,400 km from Earth for 30 seconds and will increase the spacecrafts closest point of approach to Earth to a distance of 600 km.

Beresheet continues its course according to plan and the next maneuver is scheduled for Monday night.